The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA

From the author of Argo comes an unforgettable behind-the-scenes story of espionage in action. In the first ever memoir by a top-level operative to be authorized by the CIA, Antonio J. Mendez reveals the cunning tricks and insights that helped save hundreds from deadly situations.

Bridge of Spies: A True Story of the Cold War

Bridge of Spies is the true story of three extraordinary characters: William Fisher, alias Rudolf Abel, a British born KGB agent arrested by the FBI in New York City and jailed as a Soviet superspy for trying to steal America's most precious nuclear secrets; Gary Powers, the American U-2 pilot who was captured when his plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over the closed cities of central Russia; and Frederic Pryor, a young American graduate student in Berlin mistakenly identified as a spy.

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History

Charlie Wilson's War is the untold story behind the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. George Crile tells how Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the agency's history.

Circle of Treason: CIA Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed

Circle of Treason is the first account written by CIA agents who were key members of the CIA team that conducted the intense "Ames Mole Hunt." Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille were two of the five principals of the CIA team tasked with hunting one of their own and were directly responsible for identifying Ames as the mole, leading to his arrest and conviction.

The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal

While getting into his car on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station was handed an envelope by an unknown Russian. Its contents stunned the Americans: details of top-secret Soviet research and development in military technology that was totally unknown to the United States.

Dunkirk

The Battle of Dunkirk, in May/June 1940, is remembered as a stunning defeat yet a major victory as well. The Nazis had beaten back the Allies and pushed them across France to the northern port of Dunkirk. In the ultimate race against time, more than 300,000 Allied soldiers were daringly evacuated across the Channel. This moment of German aggression was used by Winston Churchill as a call to Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war.

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service

A legendary CIA spy and counterterrorism expert here tells the spellbinding story of his high-risk, action-packed career while illustrating the growing importance of America's intelligence officers and their secret missions. The Art of Intelligence draws from the full arc of Henry Crumpton's espionage and covert action exploits to explain what America's spies do and why their service is more valuable than ever.

The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson

The definitive account of the O. J. Simpson trial, The Run of His Life is a prodigious feat of reporting that could have been written only by the foremost legal journalist of our time. First published less than a year after the infamous verdict, Jeffrey Toobin's nonfiction masterpiece tells the whole story, from the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman to the ruthless gamesmanship behind the scenes of "the trial of the century".

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.

Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke.

Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story

Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the CIA, where he served for more than 30 years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the agency's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering - all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this audiobook also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Why we think it’s a great listen:Seabiscuit was a runaway success, and Hillenbrand’s done it again with another true-life account about beating unbelievable odds. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.....

Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People

Tim Reiterman's Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978. This PEN Award-winning work explores the ideals gone wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America.

The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue

In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor’easter in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril, setting the stage for one of the most heroic rescue stories ever lived. On February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer, were in the same horrifying predicament. Built with “dirty steel,” and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantic’s mercy.

All the President's Men

Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks coming - delivering the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought about Nixon's scandalous downfall. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post and toppled the president. This is the book that changed America.

Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud

This joint biography of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford follows Hollywood's most epic rivalry throughout their careers. They only worked together once, in the classic spine-chiller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, and their violent hatred of each other as rival sisters was no act. In real life they fought over as many men as they did film roles.

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.

Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis

For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a pinata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish.

Clean House: Exposing Our Government's Secrets and Lies

Americans are rightly worried they are losing their country. How did five congressional committees miss the smoking gun on Benghazi? How did Hillary Clinton keep a secret email server quiet for years? Does the IRS audit you because of your politics? Did the first American target of Obama's drone program work for the US government? How did Congress commit fraud to get Obamacare taxpayer subsidies? In Clean House Tom Fitton answers these questions and provides shocking evidence of the corruption endemic to the Obama White House.

13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi

13 Hours presents, for the first time ever, the true account of the events of September 11, 2012, when terrorists attacked the US State Department Special Mission Compound and a nearby CIA station called the Annex in Benghazi, Libya. A team of six American security operators fought to repel the attackers and protect the Americans stationed there. Those men went beyond the call of duty, performing extraordinary acts of courage and heroism, to avert tragedy on a much larger scale.

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets and astronauts into space. Among these problem solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation.

The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me

The Foundling tells the incredible and inspiring true story of Paul Fronczak, a man who recently discovered via a DNA test that he was not who he thought he was - and set out to solve two 50-year-old mysteries at once. Along the way he upturned the genealogy industry, unearthed his family's deepest secrets, and broke open the second longest cold-case in US history, all in a desperate bid to find out who he really is.

OUChris says:"Prepare yourself for a journey that will take you to shocking places!"

It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to be the first to build a weapon unlike any known before. They have the physicists, they have the uranium, and now all their plans depend on amassing a single ingredient: heavy water, which is produced in Norway's Vemork, the lone plant in all the world that makes this rare substance. Under threat of death, Vemork's engineers push production into overdrive. For the Allies, the plant must be destroyed.

Publisher's Summary

The true account of the 1979 rescue of six American hostages from Iran

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the American embassy in Tehran and captured dozens of American hostages, sparking a 444-day ordeal and a quake in global politics still reverberating today. But there's a little-known footnote to the crisis: six Americans escaped. And a midlevel agent named Antonio Mendez devised an ingenious yet incredibly risky plan to rescue them.

Armed with foreign film visas, Mendez and an unlikely team of CIA agents and Hollywood insiders - directors, producers, actors - traveled to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for a fake film called Argo. While pretending to find the perfect scenery and backdrops, the team succeeded in contacting the escapees and smuggling them out of Iran without a single shot being fired.

Antonio Mendez finally details the mind-bogglingly complex and dangerous operation he led more than three decades ago. A true story of secret identities and international intrigue, Argo is the gripping account of the history-making collusion between Hollywood and high-stakes espionage.

Yes! This is such a fascinating slice of (fairly) recent history, but so few (until now) knew anything about it. If you already saw the movie, this will fill in many, many details for you - as well as delineate what was theatrical license to make the movie flow & what, in the movie, was portrayed exactly like it happened. If you haven't seen the movie, you'll love this book, too! As I said, I listened to this twice in a row & might listen again, soon, as each time I picked up on something different. A true-life spy thriller, with all the bells & whistles.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the author went back to where the diplomats were staying, & they'd all gotten into character for the roles of their lives.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

How many people and how much planning, at the CIA, goes into POSSIBLE situations that MAY erupt around the world (made me proud). Plus, all the details that might change from moment to moment on something as seemingly innocuous as an entry visa, & what "our people" do to keep on top of those details. I love all the minutiae/idiosyncrasies/technicalities of real spy work. :)

Any additional comments?

I saw the movie at the theater twice (which I never, ever, ever do...which shows how fabulous I thought it was!), wanted to know all the details one couldn't learn from the movie, & therefore used a credit for the audiobook. I am so glad I did, as the story has loads more to it, and the narrator keeps it moving. I kept having to remind myself that the author wasn't sitting with me, telling me his story!

Got this to keep me awake during road trip by myself. Loved the story. Really fascinating to hear the background details on how the CIA really operated ... it's not blasting through doors and spraying gun fire, it's detailed work, research, smart decisions, and good graphic artists. Graphic artists! We in the US (and the world, really) never heard the full story behind the six who got out, and here's our chance.

For those of us who remember watching the news daily (including Ted Koppel's new show at the time Nightline), it's amazing to remember that news from the embassies to D.C. had to be "cabled." And no one was live Tweeting during the embassy takeover. No camera phone pics. Embassy personnel were stationed at phones to ensure connections stayed open. And during extraction operations, CIA operatives were stationed at phones to call in a "go" signal. Public phone booths, remember those?

The narrator was the biggest weakness. He sounded a little stilted, sort of carboard or wooden. And his emphasis on the last "s" in the word "houseguests" (what the six were called prior to their extraction from Iran), had me rolling my eyes by the end. But I'm so glad I didn't let the narrator keep me from this story. It's a great listen and a fabulous story.

For any artists, graphic artists or counterfeiters out there, it's a must listen!

I listened to the audiobook before I saw the movie. I preferred listening to the nonfiction account of the mission in Iran and other fascinating CIA missions rather than the Hollywood-ized version of events for the movie. The truth really was amazing and there was no need to fictionalize it.

This was a great story. It was exciting from start to finish. Being from Ottawa it was also nice to here about Canada's involvement in the rescue. I also found the narrator did a great job. All around excellent book.

I remember when it was reported that some Americans got out of Iraq but I had no idea the intrigue involved. It was interesting which countries would not help the Americans. The Canadians were true heroes. Great read.

I did not know much about Argo prior to seeing the movie. I really enjoyed the movie. But I figured there was more to the story, and boy is there a lot more to tell. Mendes is one of those outstanding American characters that seems more fiction than fact. Now granted everyone likes to pain themselves in a positive light but I get a feel that he is for real. So if you liked Argo and want to know the details inbetween then definitly listen to the book. If you have not seen Argo then listen to the book and you will get a treat that sheds light on the evergoing complicated world of espionage, government and the Middle East.

The CIA at it's best -- this is the book on which the award nominated film is based. Makes you proud that in the middle of a bureaucratic mess, there are individuals who think creatively and have the skills and courage to pull of some really audacious stuff to protect us all.

This is workmanlike, straightforwardly written - and if you're looking forward to it because you've seen the film you'll be sadly disappointed! I did listen to it before watching the film, but for once much preferred the movie. I found myself wondering if this was the reading, which I found rather flat. In fact I went out and bought the book to check this, and the read book was more vivid than the audiobook. The original scheme was a daring and challenging idea, bravely executed, but the reading actually made it sound rather routine.

As a le Carre fan, i like my spy stories - real or fictional - either rich on technical detail or suspense-filled, preferably both. Both the book and the audiobook are, for me, just a fraction thin on both, beefed up by rather too much retrospective autobiographical stuff about the author. The initial escape of the US diplomats is however thrilling to read, and he creates a vivid picture of their life inTehran, but its actually rather less exciting to listen to - and nothing in the book or audiobook is anything like as gripping as the film - somehow the reading almost had me thinking, rather guiltily, 'so what'? I also wondered if thismight be because he had to censor a fair amount of the CIA detail?

Whereas because it contains so much really detailed, accurate information, and is written really well, 'Operation Mincemeat' is more interesting and exciting than the old movie myth of 'the Man Who Never Was', Argo the audio book is definitely not as gripping as Argo the movie. However, still worth a listen- better still, a read.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

L

Swansea, United Kingdom

6/1/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"interesting"

i was sorry to hear that the most exciting incidents in the film didn't happen! nevertheless, very entertaining and informative

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Alastair

WEMMEL, Belgium

4/28/13

Overall

"Great true story"

Worth time time to listen to, more details than the film makes it extra interesting.

Very good all round

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Jkay

4/14/13

Overall

"Mmmmm..."

Whilst you can appreciate the danger many people put their lives in on a regular basis, and the bravery of many individuals; what came across more was the sheer amount of money that was thrown at this undercover industry, and the infinite level of detail they covered. It is an amazing story that has been stretched somewhat to become a book - have not seen the film and now I don't feel I want to.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Alastair Binyon

uk

4/7/13

Overall

"Better the film"

If you enjoyed the Oscar winning Argo but wanted to really under stand what the operation to save the house guests was really like, this is where to start. Written the real 'Ben Affleck' Tony Mendez, you can hear about the role of the Canadians British and the real world politics of a crisis that affects the world to this day.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Chris Webb

London

8/14/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Argo"

Having recently seen the film 'Argo' at the cinema I was keen to listen to the full story and what a story! A very interesting and detailed book which brought to life the events of the late 1970's in Iran and USA.Fascinating.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Melanie

8/4/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"It's not exactly how hollywood told it"

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Interesting story, though perhaps a little on the short side.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Argo?

The discussion of the process for forging documents.

Any additional comments?

Ok - this is really trivial, but how he pronounced Iranian bugged me. Logically, his pronunciation is probably 'correct' but he says IH-RAH-NIAN and in the UK I'm used to hearing IH-RAIN-IAN.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

cookson

UK

4/13/13

Overall

"Great book"

I had been looking forward to seeing the film Argo for a while but when i saw this on Audible i thought i would listen to the book first. I was not dissapointed it was well delivered and a very exciting book. I am not quite to the end yet but i will certainly look out for future books by these authors.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Stanislaw

Bruxelles, Belgium

2/16/13

Overall

"Couldn't stop listening"

Exciting story providing a rare insight into clandestine operations. Well written and well narrated. Couldn’t stop listening.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.